


Retain Me, I Keep Repressing You

by twilitalks



Category: Deltarune (Video Game), Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: (duh), (like mentions/references to it!), Alphys/Undyne-centric (Undertale), Alternate Universe, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Anxiety, Depression, Eventual Romance, F/F, First Kiss, First Meetings, Fluff, Humor, Romance, also please vote on the 6th if ur in the US and eligible thanks, deltarune-verse, im taking LOTS of artistic license with this so i hope it holds up well enough!!, kris really wants that fruit juice in ch 4, meetcutes but over and over, toby fox hurt me so this is how im coping until we get some answers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-04
Updated: 2018-12-02
Packaged: 2019-08-18 19:35:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16523321
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twilitalks/pseuds/twilitalks
Summary: The five times Alphys and Undyne didn't recognize each other and the one time they did.(Deltarune-centric)





	1. Fugue

**Author's Note:**

> hi!! im writing this to cope because toby fox played us all with the option to mention alphys to undyne!!  
> (i have faith toby fox will bless us again and i trust his writing and how he has set up this universe and i dont doubt alphyne will reign again i'm just so impatient and it was like getting dunked in ice water,, he who giveth also taketh............)
> 
>  
> 
> TO CLEAR UP ANY CONFUSION each chapter is set in a "different verse", meaning the alphys and undyne in this chapter are not the same as the ones in the others, and vice versa. So essentially they're meeting for the first time in each chapter!  
> (this specific chapter takes place before deltarune "starts", since asriel is mentioned and but its not really plot relevant at all tbh)

When she was younger, Undyne always had an affinity for being someone who could be viewed as heroic, someone who could save the day and beat up all the bad guys- maybe even have a cool weapon and leitmotif, some strong armor that made a sharp clang every time she stepped.  Suplex a boulder and maybe take a pretty girl out on a date.

She wanted to help the world, and make a difference in individuals’ lives. Be someone who could protect them all and make it safe out there for little kids who dreamed of big things, just like she did.

Of course, now as an adult, she realized that being a member of the police in a tiny town where everyone followed the rules and attended church every week was both horribly over-romanticized and unbearably anticlimactic.

It wasn’t like she _despised_ her job! She loved it when she could rush to action, even if it was something minor like a cat in a tree, or because some kids were getting into mischief.

Or when Asgore needs some food like he doesn’t say because he dislikes being a burden and he can’t go home to his wife and kids (the divorce papers haven’t gone through, yet) so Undyne can bring extra donuts to him under the guise of ‘being too full to finish them’.

With a sigh, she stepped out into the night air, breathing it in and then out slowly, and began her late-night patrol.

It's not even as if she really has to- this town was even less dangerous at night than it was during the day. Everyone rather be cozy in their beds than commit any crimes. She flashed the light from her flashlight as she trekked forward, hearing the faint scraping of her steps against the concrete. Her eyes traced the all-too-familiar shapes of buildings, houses, and structures. All of them lights-out-and-down for the count. Occasionally, a bedroom light would be on, or someone would wave at her through a living room window. She forced a smile and waved back.

Another sigh- nobody even closed their blinds at night! It was comforting to live in such a safe place, but…….

She flashed the light towards the windows of the church, seeing the stained glass shimmer and glitter and reflect in the quiet, peaceful hum of the night.

It was just so _boring_.

It sort of tugged guiltily at her SOUL. She didn’t _want_ crime to happen, she didn’t want others to get hurt or be in danger or even have the opportunity of someone getting hurt on her watch.

But the little kid inside her, inspired by fictional heroes, yearned for that sort of life- one where she could have the opportunity to prove herself, to save everyone, to fight off a worthy adversary and feel like she had a purpose in the world...

In the distance, she saw a stray cat cross the road. Instead, she sat down at the picnic benches littered with sticky cobwebs and whistled a tune.

...It didn’t have to be big. She would accept even a petty misdemeanor at this point.

Idly, as she listened to the waves come in and out a few feet away, she wondered if it would be worth it to invest in creating a town bank, just to see if it would invite any thugs she could roughen-up. She hardly anyone to practice sparring with- Undyne easily overpowered pretty much all of her fellow law enforcement members. Even when she went ‘easy’ on them, they still tapped out fairly quickly.

Was it so bad, she often wondered, to _wish_ for some bad guys? Not anything so serious (though she could take serious Bad Guys too)- just something that could make her SOUL flutter with excitement and she could put her police-training to use.

It just…. Felt wrong. Of course, she would never want anyone to be in any _real_ danger. She just wanted to have someone do something illegal so she could pummel them into the dirt. Maybe even have a cool, heroic monologue as the wind howled around her and everyone cheered for justice.

She just wanted to feel _alive_.

Optimism told her they were simply doing the best job as officers, which is why there was little to no crime- but pessimism and her restlessness told her this was just…. too run-down a town for her.

Enough was enough. Undyne was an adult. She could make her own decisions. She was in charge of her own happiness, and her own destiny. Her choices mattered. If she needed to make an adult decision and look for work elsewhere, somewhere that would make her feel fulfilled, she could. She should.

She listened to her keys jingle as she stood up, and started her patrol of the upper-half of town.

It wasn't that she was _unhappy_ , just….. Unfulfilled. Underwhelmed. Besides the familial feel of the other police force members, and the little townspeople, what was even keeping her tethered to the town?

Did she need to explore bigger things….?

Undyne frowned, kept her vision low to the ground (not that it mattered, no one was out wandering this late, anyway), and tried yet again to not think about how grand the world was, how little this town was, and how they did not need her-

_You do not want crime_ , she repeated her daily mantra to herself. _You are doing your job. You don’t want to put anyone in danger. The town is safe. No one is-_

Undyne jumped when she heard a crash nearby. Something that banged and clattered loudly against the ground and made someone nearby yelp.

Danger. Without a second thought, Undyne sprinted towards the noise. Flashlight blazing and SOUL charging with excitement.

Her shoes scraped against the concrete as she rushed over- it sounded like it was coming by the alleyway between the apartments, which meant it was likely someone was trying to break in- turned the corner of the brick apartment complex and yelled:

“NGAAH! Stop right there, punk!”

The tabby cat she flashed the bright light and yelled at hissed back at her, making a guttural growl before scampering away behind the toppled over trash-can.

Right. Why would it be-

“S-sorry! Oh my god, I d-didn’t mean to-”

Undyne’s eyes flickered up, and she wondered how she hadn’t noticed the other monster before. She looked scared- dare she even say _terrified_ \- and was covering her face with her hands as she trembled. Undyne blinked, relaxing her stance from FIGHT to just casually standing, and she examined the other with a curious look. She was covered in yellow scales, and dressed in dorky pajamas.

But above all, she was unfamiliar. Unrecognizable. She’d never seen this monster before in her life.

Weird.

“-I-it was just an accident!” She continued, tripping over her own words. “I j-just heard my cat o-out here meowing and I-”

“Your cat?” Undyne interrupted the almost incomprehensible train-of-thought. It looked like a scrawny stray.

“Y-yeah…” The monster lowered her hands from her face just enough so she could nervously tangle them together. She flashed an embarrassed-looking smile. “It’s, uh, k-kind of a funny story…”

Undyne raised an eyebrow at her, and waited for the story.

Silence. Awkward silence. The monster in front of her pushed her glasses higher up on her face. Undyne’s SOUL did a weird jump she didn’t quite understand.

“.. W-well, its less of a, uh...funny story,” She eventually continued. “And more of a……”

She grew quiet, frowned.

“Pathetic one.”

Undyne’s eyes widened a bit in surprise at the sudden turn in conversation.

“...A-anyway, sorry about that, Officer.” She recovered messily, sighing with shakiness. “I live just upstairs, I was going to head back up there now-”

“What about your cat?” Undyne asked, less in an interrogating way and more in a genuinely curious way. The cat had long scampered off.

“O-oh!” The unfamiliar monster said in quiet surprise, but Undyne continued.

“Oh, geez- Were you trying to catch her?” Undyne facepalmed, gritting her teeth. This poor  monster probably was trying to get her cat to come back inside, and like an idiot she just _had_ to come and scare it off, huh? “Look, I’m really sorry about that! I’ll help you look for her-”

“Oh, no, no!” She waved her hands frantically, and it made Undyne stop in her tracks. “No, it's just- actually, well, uh you s-see…”

Undyne watched the sentence run off, and instantly became suspicious. Something wasn’t adding up.

“Ok, ma'am?” The monster in question looked up and froze in her runaway train-of-thought, and Undyne continued as she flashed her badge. She didn’t need to, but she felt cool doing it.

“What’s your name?”

“Alphys.” The monster practically squeaked.

_Alphys……._

“L-look, I didn’t mean any trouble-”

Nope, didn’t ring a bell.

“Well, Alphys,” She repeated the foreign name, but it settled well on her tongue and she couldn’t deny it- it sounded pretty. "I’m going to need you to explain the _entire_ story. Because right now? It's not quite adding up.”

She stepped closer, and grinned menacingly. The monster shuffled back out of instinct, eyes wide.

“Officer Undyne,” She introduced herself. “And I don’t think you’re from around here, are ya, punk?”

Alphys went from looking intimidated, to just straight embarrassment. She flashed her a bashful smile that masked a bit of sadness.

“A-actually,” She started. “I live here.”

What.

“For at least a few months now.”

_What._

“I’ve….” Undyne awkwardly cleared her throat, squinted and tried desperately to recall this monster before her. “Never seen you around.”

Alphys’s grin grew sadder. “Yeah, I, uh, h-have that effect on others…”

Undyne felt somewhat speechless, her SOUL filling with guilt. God, how could she not recognize someone in this tiny town? Especially someone so….

_Focus, Undyne_.

She bit her lip, searching her features to see if anything rung a bell.

_And not on how awkwardly nerdy and cute this girl is._

“I work down at the school,” Alphys continued, and Undyne wracked her brain trying to understand how she’s never seen her before. She was always at school grounds helping the kids cross in the morning and afternoon. Occasionally, she also worked security if there was a larger event.

For good measure, Alphys politely showed Undyne her school ID. It displayed a really awkward looking yellow lizard monster who shyly smiled for the photo, dressed in something a teacher would definitely wear.

It was, somewhat, incredibly cute and endearing it its odd awkwardness. And Undyne couldn’t even _begin_ to fathom why.

“Oh, wow, I’m-” Undyne felt shame burn against her SOUL. “Listen, I’m really sorry, it's late and I’m exhausted, I probably-”

Alphys waved off her lie with a small smile, as if this was a bit normal for her. Undyne felt herself grow sad.

“D-don’t worry about it!” She insisted, taking the ID back from Undyne. Their hands awkwardly brushed, and they both ignored it even though Undyne’s SOUL fluttered (‘ _Get it together!_ ’ she told herself. ‘ _This is just some random stranger!!_ ’). “I-I’m sure you’re very busy, a-and have a lot of names and monsters to remember!”

It only made Undyne feel even more guilty.

“Well,” Undyne replied. “Now I’ll be _sure_ not to forget you.” She smiled at her. Genuinely, and somewhat softly. She tried to not make it sound like a threat- usually an officer promising not to forget someone was never a good sign.

Alphys blinked in surprise, and Undyne could’ve sworn in the dim of the night and her flashlight, she was blushing a bit.

“O-oh….” She mumbled a bit. “Well, uh, thank you.”

“Can I walk you upstairs?” Undyne blurted out suddenly- before she could catch herself. Her eyes widened, as did Alphys’s, and she frantically tried to backtrack and not seem creepy about it. “Its, uh, really late at night! Yeah- and it would be dangerous to be walking around alone like this, especially in an alleyway.”

Alphys looked very hesitant now. It was a reach- everyone knew this town was as safe as it gets, and the building was _literally_ right next door.

“Oh, d-don’t worry yourself about it!” Alphys replied.

_Was_ it creepy? Was _she_ creepy?

“Ma’am, as an Officer,” Undyne began, trying to seem as friendly as she could. She was someone safe that Alphys could trust. Why did she need to prove that to this random stranger? Was it just because she was someone new? Someone to protect?

(Or was it this odd gravitational pull she felt towards this stranger?

Man, Undyne really needed to cool it, she told herself. Just because she was feeling a little lonely in this tiny town and having Nighttime Emotions did not mean this random stranger was her soulmate come straight out of thin air or something.

That would be ridiculous.)

“It is my duty to make sure everyone in town is safe at all times. If I let an opportunity for you to get hurt slip past me, I would never forgive myself.”

And, for some reason, this made Alphys laugh.

A little trill, her shoulders shaking and then an eye roll to show how ridiculous Undyne was being, and Undyne’s SOUL soaring.

“That,” Alphys grinned. “Seems a little dramatic. But, I guess that's fine.”

For some reason, Undyne felt like she won something.

She guided her out of the small alleyway decorated with tasteful graffiti art pieces, but not before helping her pick up the trash can that toppled over and spilled a few flowers and soil out.

“I, uh, d-don’t have space for a garden in my apartment,” Alphys explained. “So I figured this would be the second best option.”

Undyne had to hand it to her, that was kind of smart.

“I get it,” Undyne encouraged when she noticed Alphys was getting a bit bashful over her flowers. “You’re prettying up an area that needs it- it's just an alleyway so it doesn’t get much love or decoration, and I’m sure it's depressing to see when you look out your window if you’re facing it. It’s a nice touch!”

Alphys smiled a bit, breaking eye contact. “Y-you made it sound much more artistic than it is,” She laughed again. “It’s much more selfish than that. I just wanted some place to keep flowers.”

“So,” Undyne changed the topic as they started towards Alphys’s building. “Why were you out this late? And the cat?”

“Oh, right.” Alphys fumbled with her sleeves again. “ _That._ ”

“C’mon,” Undyne nudged her a bit, before opening the building’s door for her. “I wanna hear the funny story.”

“I said it was more of a _pathetic_ one.” She protested, and thanked her as she headed inside, Undyne following behind her as they headed for the stairwell.

“Yeah, well, for some reason I feel like you’re selling yourself short.” Undyne retorted goodnaturedly. Alphys paused for a second, as if surveying if it was worth it.

“S-she’s, uh… she’s a stray,” Alphys finally said, giving a small, nervous grin. “I just leave out milk a-and food for her…I never really see her, though, so when I heard a cat outside….”

Undyne felt like the pure wholesomeness of the reply was going to melt down her SOUL right then and there.

“Oh.” Undyne blinked. “You just wanted to see her. That’s actually…. Kind of sweet.”

Alphys snorted. “Or just lonely and pathetic.”

“Everyone gets a little lonely sometimes,” Undyne retorted. “Even that cat.”

Alphys stopped again, her eyes wide as she stared at Undyne.

After a moment, she gave her a small smile. “Y-yeah, I guess so.”

Undyne followed as Alphys led the way up the empty, hollow, and somewhat unnerving stairwell.

“Hey, uh, sorry about earlier,” Undyne spoke up again after half a flight. “About not recognizing you. I’m sure I have, just probably got you mixed up.”

“Oh, don’t worry…!” She protested, and Undyne was starting to realize she protested a lot whenever it came to herself. “I tend to uh, just keep to myself. T-to school and straight back home, you know? It's easy to forget someone like that.”

Undyne wasn’t sure she agreed with that. “The town is small enough that I, an Officer, should’ve been able to recognize you. Kind of an asshole move. So… sorry about that.”

“Its-”

“And yes it's a big deal. And no, I won’t take no for an answer.”

Undyne grinned at her, so eventually Alphys caved and let her apologize.

“What’s her name?”

“Huh?”

“The cat.”

“Oh,” Alphys hesitated. “.. Mew-mew.”

Undyne felt kind of bad for laughing, because Alphys got flustered.

“H-hey!” She pouted.

“No, no,” Undyne shook her head. “Its super cute! I wasn’t expecting that!”

“What were you expecting?”

Undyne shrugged, hurried up the steps in a burst of spontaneity and hopped up to block Alphys’s path, grabbing her arm when she stumbled back. “Something…. Really nerdy.” She smirked, leaned forward a bit. She felt oddly triumphant when Alphys became a little nervous.

“Y-yeah?”

“Yeah,” Her voice lowered a bit, and suddenly the second flight of stairs of the dusty, stuffy stairwell became oddly intimate. “Y’know, being a teacher and all.”

Alphys snorted, amusement dancing in her eyes behind thick glasses.

“Oh, are all teachers really nerdy now…?”

Undyne shifted to be a bit closer now, and maybe she took it too far, because she saw Alphys grip on the railing slip backward.

She felt kind of bad, but she also felt overwhelmed by the need to shoot her shot with some this random cutie that she felt _terrible for never noticing in town, how dense_ _could she be not to see someone like her around?_

“Haven’t you heard? Teachers are ten times more likely to be huge, adorable nerds.”

Alphys glanced to the side, eye contact seemingly too intense for her now.

“I-it’s from an anime,” She stuttered out. “The name, I mean.”

Undyne laughed again. “So it _is_ nerdy!”

Alphys pouted- _pouted_ \- and Undyne’s SOUL did the weirdest little loop-de-loop.

“Surprise, surprise.” She waved her hands in the air.

“Not surprising,” Undyne confirmed. “But kind of cute.”

She beamed as she turned and headed up the rest of the flight- tried to pretend she wasn’t completely embarrassed by her own display a few moments ago because _God, Undyne what were you thinking?! Personal space!_ She couldn’t help it- suddenly nerdy lizard girls were the ultimate kryptonite.

She hoped Alphys couldn’t tell how much blood was rushing to her face.

After a bit Alphys trailed behind her, and turned towards the hallway instead of continuing up the stairs.

“I’ve never really watched any of that.”

“Anime?”

“Yeah,” Undyne nodded as she followed Alphys down the hallway, lowering her volume a bit since those on the floor were likely fast asleep. “Just never knew where to start.”

Alphys turned slightly towards her as she walked, and Undyne jogged the bit forward so she could meet her vision properly. “Y-you seem like the type, to like it I mean…”

“Yeah?” Undyne couldn’t help but grin again. “Got any recs?”

Alphys looked a bit more shy again. She laughed nervously.

“What?” Undyne teased again. “Ya like the really weird ones?”

“N-no!” Alphys defended. “Its just… I don’t know what kind of stuff you like.” She admitted. “We hardly, um, know each other.”

Alphys stopped in front of a door, and Undyne presumed it was her stop by the way she took out her keys that hooked onto a bunch of really cool and glittery keychains.

“W-well,” Alphys looked down and cleared her throat. “Here we are.”

“Oh.” Undyne replied. Right. It was just upstairs.

….

“T-thanks for walking me up, Officer Undyne.”

“Uh, no problem.” Undyne said blankly, suddenly at a loss of what to do. She had to think fast, act quick-

“Hey, wait Alphys...!” Undyne’s hand sprung out and circled around Alphys’s wrist as she turned her doorknob. Alphys flinched back and gasped a bit, pulling her hand away, and Undyne felt _terrible._

“Sorry, sorry,” She hastily apologized, and continued once Alphys told her it was fine. “I just… Well, what if you knew me better? Then you could recommend me some good animes!”

Alphys’s eyes widen, before she started to laugh again.

“You’re really on that, huh?” She said between giggles, and Undyne shrugged with a bashful smile.

“Well, I’m interested….”

Alphys gave her a curious look. “In the anime?”

“Sure.” Undyne shrugged. “Maybe we can talk when I’m off hours?”

Undyne could tell Alphys was apprehensive about it all, but eventually she agreed, and plugged a number into Undyne’s phone when she nervously handed it to her.

Undyne felt giddy- she tried not to vibrate in excitement, but she could tell Alphys was kind of thrilled to have someone to talk to about this kind of stuff, by the eager way she typed her number and name in.  If she really did keep to herself, well, Undyne would love to break that habit of hers.

Taking the phone back, she pocketed it and gave her a small wave and Alphys headed inside.

“See you around, Alphys,” Undyne beamed. “Oh! And make sure you vote on the sixth!”

“I already Early Voted,” Alphys assured her with a small smile. “But thanks.”

_And_ she understood the importance of voting and putting the democracy back in the Monster’s hands? Sign Undyne up for Infatuation Station.

“Goodnight, Officer Undyne.”

 

As Undyne exited the apartment complex and continued her nightly patrol, she had a bigger spring in her step. The world around her looked a little prettier, the air felt cleaner. The stars shown a bit brighter.

 

Maybe there was something in this town for her, after all.


	2. Overlook

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alphys is a nervous driver and Undyne is a ruthless officer who doesn't tolerate speeding.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> first of all: thank u to everyone who left kudos and such nice and sweet comments omgomg i feel the love!!!<333 u guys all encouraged me not to scrap this whole thing, so thank you so much!
> 
> second: this took longer to update than i expected, so i tried to expand on it as much as i could to make up for it! finals are on the horizon, and i desperately want to update my other alphyne fic before the month ends (hopefully) so the next chapter may take a bit, but it will definitely continue!  
> as i type this, i have a final paper im avoiding lmao
> 
> okok enough talking its Alphyne Hell Time kiddos!

Alphys wasn’t even sure why she was surprised. 

She notoriously had terrible luck. Terrible, awful luck. The kind of luck where she’s  _ always _ at the wrong place at the wrong time, where she’s  _ always _ just barely making it but being cut off last minute. The kind of luck when she’s in the lunch line and the person before her gets the last icecream cup, or when she’s in line and the movie tickets  _ just _ sell out.

Or the kind of luck that gets her caught on the way back into town from a convention because she just  _ had _ to go just a  _ little _ faster, didn’t she? Just  _ had _ to speed because she needed to get home and grade papers and-

She cringed, the bright blue-and-red police lights coupled by the obnoxious siren noise and the cop flagging her down  _ literally half a block from her apartment, literally around the corner to the entrance to town _ , and being half dressed in Mew Mew merch really making her consider her entire life choices and how they have ultimately have all lead to this exact and precise moment in life.  

(A large part of her is just glad she isn’t donned in a cosplay, which would’ve made the whole process even more unbearable.)

With a sigh, she pulled over, eyeing the entrance to town out of the corner of her eye as she begins to reach over to her wallet for her license. The wallet is heavy, but she’s on a teacher’s budget, so it's mostly just because of how it doubles as a phone case and because of the cute stickers she’s stuck all over it and the decorative pin attached to the center, and the one tiny, sparkly pink Mew Mew keychain attached to the phone. 

In her rear view mirror, she can see the cop stepping out of her police car and trekking over. She can hear the power behind her steps and how the zippers on her combat boots jingle each time, and the glint of her aviator shades as she walked closer and closer. 

Alphys debated smashing her face against her steering wheel. 

She just wanted to go out for the weekend, was that too much to ask of the world? She  _ never _ left the house. The town she had moved to was so small, and 98% of her routine included going to and from her classroom and scribbling on someone’s exam with green pen (red ink just seemed a little too angry for her- she wanted to encourage her students, not attack them, with her corrections). The nearest city was about 20 minutes drive- which she was  _ more  _ than willing to drive for a weekend con where she could happily be Giant Weeaboo Self amongst peers and blow her miniscule teacher’s salary on useless material things, such as an authentic, untranslated manga (she’d convinced herself it’ll encourage her to brush up on her hiragana and katakana readings, and maybe some kanji as well. It won’t.), sugary soda with cute neko girls on the wrappers, and a bunch of Mew Mew stickers and posters- not including the merch she already was currently wearing, and the keychain knocking against her steering wheel when the car rocked.

Basically, Alphys had enough bad luck to be caught literally 2 minutes from her apartment, decked out in the nerdiest get-up she could possibly be in, her passenger seat stuffed with the spoils of the weekend’s journey, by some lady cop who was probably going to be laughing at her for the next 7 years and-

She jumped when the cop knocked on her window and she realized she  _ hadn’t even rolled the window down, oh my god Alphys could you  _ be  _ more rude?! _

Frantically, she clicked the button and mentally rushed through a scripted apology:

“Oh my god, I-I’m so sorry, I-”

“License and registration.” The cop immediately cut through her apology, and Alphys almost yelped when she leaned down to be more level with her vision.

“R-right.” She stuttered, scrambling into her wallet-phone-case as well as her glove compartment.

“S-sorry.” She began as she handed them to the cop, who popped the gum Alphys hadn’t even noticed she was chewing.

The cop, who Alphys can see has a name-tag that says ‘ _ Officer Undyne _ ’ engraved on it, brings the papers and license to up to see the tiny text on them, reaching up and pushing her shades up and out of the way into her hair and Alphys can now clearly see how her eyes squint a bit and dart across the information, before they settle on her again and oh, god,  _ that’s an intense stare _ , Alphys finds herself having to break eye contact.

Here she was, seeing what was most likely the most intimidating, attractive cop in existence, and she was covered in nerdy memorabilia. 

“So, Alphys,” Officer Undyne finally speaks up, and her voice is just as rough and tough and rhythmic as she expected, and she gripped her steering wheel a bit again. “‘Do you know why I stopped you?”

Alphys gulped. Right. Authority. It didn’t help that her anxiety was feeding her images of this cop’s gun strapped to her hip. Or maybe a taser. Would she use a taser on her? Would she need to? Did she deserve it? What was the question? Did she have anything illegal on her? Oh, god, oh god was anime illegal now? What was the ques-

“Y-yes, I think,” Alphys eventually mumbled out, her voice breaking a bit under the pressure. Her SOUL pounded. She was going to get arrested. She didn’t know how, or why, but she  _ had _ to have done something. “I was speeding a b-bit.”

Officer Undyne fell silent for a moment, before grinning a bit, leaning more into the car window. “You alright? You seem nervous. Got something to hide?”

“N-no!” She yelped out, quick as can be, quick enough to have the Officer give her a suspicious look. 

“.... you sure about that,” She snuck a glance at her license. “Alphys?”

Alphys took a calming breath in, and then one out. Relax. She wasn’t hiding anything, she wasn’t necessarily doing anything illegal except speeding a bit. The most she could leave with was a ticket. She needed to calm down. She didn’t have anything illegal on her. Did she? Her mind raced, faster than she had down the street Officer Undyne stopped her at. Did she buy that sword at the con? Was that even illegal? She was over the age, right? What was the age, again? _ Did  _ she even buy it? She couldn’t remember. She suddenly couldn’t remember anything but static or noise or the flashing lights of the cop car or the intimidating grin of Officer Undyne as she peered into her SOUL with her shades bunched up into her hair and-

“I-I’m….” She braced herself to speak again. “I’m only a few minutes away from home.” She told her instead. 

Officer Undyne didn’t look impressed. 

“A-and I know that’s not an excuse or anything!” Alphys quickly corrected. “I mean- I’m just saying that, um… I had a long weekend, and I just wanted to get home and-”

Alphys felt her fingers tremble a bit at the way the officer was squinting. 

“S….S-sorry.”

Alphys braced herself for impact. 

“You live around here?”

Alphys nodded. After a moment of silence, she blinked her eyes open again (she hadn’t even realized she had squeezed them shut) and snuck a glance at Officer Undyne once more. Instead of giving her a dangerous glare or preping handcuffs (because god forbid Alphys didn’t always anticipate the worst for herself), she was squinting down at her license, eyes scanning over the printed on address, presumably. 

After a moment, she looks up again, confused:

“How come I’ve never seen you around?”

Alphys shrugged, becoming a little less tense at the casualness. Maybe she would be fine, maybe she would be okay. “Small town.”

“Exactly.”

What was she trying to get at?

“Anyway,” Officer Undyne stood up straighter, tall and threatening outside of Alphys’s car. “Yeah- you sure were speeding quite a bit back there. Got somewhere to be?”

_ Yes _ , she thought,  _ Home.  _

“Y-yeah,” She spoke. “Just wanted to get back home already.”

“So much so you wanted to endanger the others around you?”

Alphys didn’t have enough guts to say the roads were completely empty, and had been for the past couple miles, so she just gave her dashboard a guilty look.

“Well,” Officer Undyne spoke as she tapped the license against the car door a couple times, shifting the topic. “I’ll be right back with this.”

Once the officer had walked out of sight, Alphys let out a huge sigh and slumped back against the driver’s seat. What was she thinking?! Of  _ course _ there would be cops camped out waiting on an empty exit into town! Why was she even speeding? What did she have to rush home for? Nothing. Nothing was waiting for her. She had nothing to truly rush for, except for maybe extra time to sit and procrastinate grading papers she had been putting off for 4 days now because every time she even picked one up, she was hit with a powerful wave of emptiness and loneliness that engulfed her entire being and hazed her vision over until she could see nothing but her impending failure as a being looming overhead, until she couldn’t tell if she was grading correctly and fairly or just on autopilot. Maybe she was rushing to try to beat her own adrenaline from being out of the house and in a happy environment for the weekend (because she needed an emergency out of her house before she did something terrible, something unfair, something  _ cowardly _ ) before it rushes out, before it crashes down all around her and she lays in bed for the next 72 hours and just stares at her plain, chipping wall and occasionally down at her phone beside her when her screen lights up with a notification. 

It was too late. It was too late, she had gone and done something  _ stupid _ (because she really valued herself so little that even if she had gotten hurt or hit something while speeding, who cared?) and now its eating away at her time and her motivation and her Happy Adrenaline and what little Social Energy she had left after the weekend and now she’s  _ aching  _ to be home, under approximately 27 blankets and eating frosting right out of the container and crying because her tiny, tiny paycheck has to be spent on a _ speeding ticket  _ when she knew damn well she couldn’t be messing around on a teacher’s salary.

For something as stupid as speeding the five minutes left it took to get home.

In frustration, she banged her hand against her steering wheel and grit her teeth ( _ stupid stupid stupid _ -), only to yelp and flinch back when it accidentally set off the car’s horn.

Her eyes wide and her hands curled up against her own chest, she eventually sighed, willed the burning tears she felt forming to leave, and relaxed. Closed her eyes shut. Accepted her defeat.

After a moment, Officer Undyne knocked on the window she hadn’t realized she shut again, and she tried to level her anxiety as she rolled it down again and faced her current problem.

“Everything alright?” Officer Undyne started. “We heard the car horn go off.”

Alphys wanted to  _ die  _ from embarrassment. “Everything's fine. It was just, um… jammed.”

Officer Undyne gave her an odd look. “Right,” She finally said after a moment. “Anyway, just ran the info through the system- came back mostly clean, except for a few, uh, fender benders- just little love taps and things like that, nothing serious.”

Alphys cringed. She was kind of a nervous driver, so she had a few tiny accidents on record. Nothing at all life threatening, but definitely enough to get her into a bit of trouble and a large ticket. 

Which, judging by the paper in Officer Undyne’s hand, was probably how this was going to go down. Alphys felt her SOUL sink at the sight of it, and she tried not to seem defeated and like she was going to break down and cry at the sight of it. 

“ _ But _ , unfortunately, it's enough to have to give you one of these, Miss Alphys.” She waved the yellow paper up with a somewhat sympathetic smile, mixed in with some other emotion Alphys couldn’t care to pinpoint at the moment. Alphys sighed, taking back her license and registration papers when the Officer handed them back to her and tossing them in the passenger seat, next to the whale plushie she- oh, right, she forgot about that one- couldn’t resist buying at the con, and really wishing she had those 25$ back right now. 

“That’s fair.” Alphys replied robotically, taking the ticket from the Officer, and trying not to seem rude when she practically shoved it into her bag at her car’s carpet. 

Officer Undyne paused, blinked and then cleared her throat, and when Alphys looked over, she looked a bit….

Bashful? Shy?

Embarrassed?

“You-uh, I…” She took a moment to gather her words, as if Alphys had done something to make her speechless. “Don’t you want to, um….”

Alphys raised an eyebrow at her.

“Check the ticket out?” Officer Undyne finally finished, bringing her shades down to cover her eyes again, closing off any insight to the emotions dancing and springing around in them. “Make sure it's all accurate and checks out? It’ll be hell to correct later.” She warns her.

Which was surprising- that a cop would actually want to help her even though she was technically breaking the law.

“With all due respect, Officer Undyne,” She eventually gets out, forcing a tired smile onto her face. “I just really need to get home already.”

Officer Undyne paused, and Alphys could feel her eyes scanning her from under her shades. “Got someone waiting for ya?”

Alphys swallowed. It stung down into her SOUL that the only thing waiting for her was some microwavable-box-dinner and a stack of ungraded papers. “Something like that.”

The officer nodded after a moment, clearing her throat again, as if trying to recollect herself after something embarrassing (Alphys knew that feeling quite well, which is why she could pinpoint it. But what did Officer Undyne need to be embarrassed about?).

“Right. Well,” She grinned at her again, and it seemed…. Hopeful? “Make sure you drive safe- don’t wanna damage precious cargo.” 

Alphys felt confused, looked over to her side, and spotted the embarrassing, giant plushie. Her face went hot, and her SOUL went cold with humiliation. 

“Y-yeah,” Alphys sighed, gripped onto the steering wheel as she started her car again. “I’ll take it easy.”

Officer Undyne tapped the roof of her car as she bid her a  _ ‘see ya around, speedracer’ _ , and Alphys wanted to melt into her seat and disappear forever, but instead she just muttered  _ ‘goodnight, Officer.’ _ and tried not to rush home. 

And yet, the rest of the night felt like a rushed blur to her. She hurried upstairs to her apartment, shakily unlocked her door and charged inside. She all but threw her bag to the floor (she left her new merch down in her trunk to get tomorrow, when she wasn’t so upset) and rushed into the kitchen. She grabbed anything she could find that didn’t need preparation (which was, inevitably, just a box of fish-shaped cheese crackers), and stumbled back into her room. Collapsing onto the small, twin bed, she crawled under the covers after shedding clothes riddled with Convention Germs and let herself cry.

And cry.

And cry.

She ended up not grading any papers- and after a bit, she found it in herself to feel less stupid and snack on the crackers before her exhaustion caught up with her and she passed out.

 

\---

 

Undyne tapped against the wood of the desk in an impatient rhythm, bounced her leg frantically, and tried to burn a hole into the cell phone sitting beside her with her glare.

Nothing. 

“It's not gonna happen if you just keep staring.” Her coworker, Doggo, commented without looking up from his lunch.

“I’m not staring!” Undyne shouted, annoyed. It was the fifth time Doggo had said anything about it all day, but it was also the eighth time Undyne had gotten caught. “I’m  _ working _ !”

She grumbled and returned back to the paperwork in front of her, pretended she could focus on that instead of literally anything else.

After a few minutes, she sighed heavily, ran a hand through her hair, tried not to remember all the slept she lost the night before and feel stupid. 

“Hey,” Doggo spoke up again. “At least you tried.”

And she had to nod, because if she didn’t what else could she do?

After her shift was over, she thanked everyone who sat and listened to her excitedly chatter about a cute girl she met speeding the night before even though she had been annoying about it, and Dogaressa told her not to worry: it was so nice she was meeting people!

She gave her a weak smile, and returned home to take a well deserved nap- something she rarely did but definitely needed right now.

\---

The next morning, Alphys sprung out of bed the moment she realized she had slept through her last alarm and was already running 20 minutes behind schedule. Skipping breakfast seemed like the best choice to eliminate, despite not having dinner the night before, but she didn’t have much more time to debate it as she hurried through her morning routine and _sprinted_ (something she never did) to the school building. 

She ended up only being a few minutes later than usual, and she felt relieved when it seemed only Noelle and Temmie had been waiting outside the class for her. 

She apologized to them anyway, hurrying to open the door.

“Oh, that’s okay, Miss Alphys!” Noelle said with a soft smile. “We were only out here for a few minutes, and Temmie was showing me a cool book she checked out!”

“Temmie STUBY HARD!” She spoke up proudly, but she was waving some comic book around. Alphys didn’t bother questioning it and simply let them into the classroom.

It filled up about two minutes later, with the rest of the students filing in a few minutes before class was set to begin and chattering happily about their weekend, as if the town wasn’t small enough that they didn’t see each other over the course of the two days off. Noelle asked Alphys a couple of questions on the assigned reading, and Alphys hadn’t even remembered assigning any, but she answered to the best of her exhausted ability. Berdly eventually strutted in and welcomed himself into the conversation- but Alphys glanced at the clock, as well as watched Kris hurry into the class and jump into their seat as the bell rang, so she sent them both to sit.

“Good Morning, class!” She greeted them, and they parroted a morning greeting back. She forced a smile on for them- why did they need to see her sad for something they could not control? That wouldn’t be fair to them. “I, um, haven’t finished grading papers yet- I had something of a …. Busy weekend.”

She could hear Catti clicking away at her phone from here. 

“But I’ll get to them by tomorrow! I only have a few left.”

She picked up the roster for attendance, and quietly marked those who were present. Kris played with their pen’s clicker, before pointing the tiny laser pointer end of it at Snowy- who grumbled and flicked a rubber band back at them. 

“Miss Alphys!” Berdly raised his hand and sat up, straight and proud and Alphys knew he meant well, but sometimes he really became  _ overbearing. _ “If you need help grading,  _ I _ would be  _ more  _ than willing to help-”

Alphys frowned as she marked Susie tardy- she figured she might show up sometime later. 

“Thank you, Berdly, but that won’t be necessary.” She gave him smile, if only not to seem rude, before reaching towards her bag to pull out her lesson plan.

“Now,” She began as she searched her bag, and tried to ignore all her snack wrappers and anime doodles she had stuffed in there as well. “Today we start to cover- Oh!”

Alphys hurried to snatch the yellow paper that slipped out along with her lesson plan (she didn’t need her students to think she was irresponsible, or their _ parents _ to think she was a bad influence), and gave a nervous laugh. 

If only out of instinct, she brought the ticket up to double-check that it was in fact still a speeding ticket, before going to shove it in her bag again-

 

Wait. 

 

She frowned, bringing it up to her eyes again, squinting to read the messy print on it.

“Miss Alphys…?” Noelle asked softly, filled with concern. “Is everything alright?” 

“Yes, yes, sorry,” She replied once she glanced up and noticed much of the class giving her a curious look. “One sec…”

Her eyes hurried through the writing on the ticket:

 

_ ‘You’re lucky you’re real cute, speedracer. _

_ Maybe we can talk again under less illegal circumstances? _

_ -Undyne <3’ _

 

And below, ten digits, seemingly carefully printed.

Alphys felt absolutely floored, and she just stared at the ticket in complete shock. She flipped it over, and then back to the front. 

Nothing- no charges, not even any penalties written.

 

_ “Don’t you want to, um….Check the ticket out? Make sure it's all accurate and checks out? It’ll be hell to correct later.”  _

_ “With all due respect, Officer Undyne, I just really need to get home already.” _

 

Oh my god.

 

_ “Got someone waiting for ya?” _

_ “Something like that.” _

 

“Ohhhh my _ goddddd _ ,” Alphys whines as she facepalms, bringing the ticket to smack against her face with a hopeless groan.

“Miss Alphys....?!”

She peeked out from behind the ticket, and watched as the entire class now watched her with concern, including Susie, who was trying to quietly slink into class. 

She paused, before clearing her throat and shoving the ticket into her bag again, her face burning as she hurried to the board. 

“R-right- Sorry about that, class!” She rushed to start the lesson and hope to avoid any questions, as well as having to think about how stupid she had been yesterday.

  
  


_ “Make sure you drive safe- don’t wanna damage precious cargo.”  _

  
The entire day, her brain kept repeating the name ‘ _ Officer Undyne’ _ and several pairs of digits stringed together, and it was enough to get her to smile- an honest smile, one she hadn’t had in a very, very long time. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ive been considering this since a friend brought the idea up......... would it be wise to have a fic update tag on my tumblr since my posting schedule is really irregular? that way if anyone was wondering about the status of any of my works, they could search the tag or shoot me an ask? or am i just being Extra,,, i just want people to know i havent abandoned something they enjoy!  
> idkidkidk
> 
> EDIT: any WIP for fics can be tracked @ http://blakebellaadonna.tumblr.com/tagged/twilitalks-updates


	3. Forget-me(-not)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Officer Undyne takes her lunch break seriously, for once.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i wrote this instead of practicing for my ballet final- and this was honestly going to go a completely different direction but i think this version is better so i hope everyone likes it even though its a bit short!  
> (im drowning in bio II notes as we speak)  
> (send help)

In this tiny town, any place of business was borderline a local monopoly. There was one school, one set of apartment complexes, one church (though Undyne wasn’t really sure she should be calling that a place of business. Thaaaat’s politics!), and- most importantly- one general store.

Keep in mind, that place had a probability of 2% of ever being open for daily business. Most citizens of the town acquired their food through the couple pop-up restaurants that dealt typical diner food (yummy, but artery clogging) or driving twenty minutes to the nearest city and grocery shopping there. A few families might have a tiny garden, but those were really the only options, and Undyne was certainly not one of those lucky families.

Which which brought her back to her current predicament: lunch break.

If she was being honest with herself, lunch break was almost unheard of for Undyne. She technically (read: was legally required to) takes them, but she usually just ate whatever she packed herself as she directed any traffic.

However, this morning as she happily whistled on her way to the fridge to make something to fuel her throughout the shift, the cool air of the tiny fridge puffed back at her in what- if she had been more sleep deprived- could only be described as annoyance.

_What,_ it grumbled as it made crushed ice. _You’re gonna just stand there and act like you haven’t filled this place up in 3 weeks now?_

With a sigh, she shoved the door closed with her hip as she headed out the door.

Come lunchtime, she was faced with the realization that would either have to stop her shift to eat at a greasy (but delicious!) diner, or stop her shift and grab food at the nearby city.

Or, as random happenstance would have it, _‘SANS_ would be open.

Seeing the lit up letters atop of the run-down building, flickering in bright orange, Undyne squinted a bit. The shop looked dimly lit, but it was definitely open.

In mild disbelief, she took a quick jog over to the building, and peered inside. Someone was slumped over, asleep, at the cash register, and there were a couple other monsters casually wandering its tiny aisles.

Undyne didn’t want to question it too much- if she could just grab something quick here, she wouldn’t have to worry about having to take time out of her shift for a _real_ lunch break- and cautiously entered, like she hadn’t believed it was truly open- and at a decent time no less.

As she stepped in, instead of a bell chiming, there was a weird _looop!_ noise above her head. By her feet, a white dog lazily yawned, then went back to tearing up what was possibly a chew toy at one point.

Undyne shrugged- not her problem, as long as there was no undercover crime, the store could carry on as it pleased.

Which, she hummed to herself as she picked up a packet of artificially flavored crackers to examine and debate if she wanted to _really_ put that in her body, begged the question:

What if there _was_ undercover crime going on in this store?

It would make sense, her eyes glanced from the ingredients printed in tiny letters on the back of the wrapper to the only employee, that a place as shady as this would have something weird going on behind the scenes.

Placing the crackers back, Undyne whistled a tune she daydreamed would be her heroic motif and often played on the old piano at the hospital as she started to search around the aisles.

In her mind's eye, she truly was being stealthy. But there was only so much stealth one could have when shoving the aisles around and reaching between them, interrogating other customers, and squinting up at the ceiling to see if the security cameras still worked.

It didn't matter much, seeing as whoever was at the counter was peacefully asleep, but it didn’t make this any less suspicious. Though, from what she could see, it seemed that customers were leaving money loyally by the counter for their purchases, even before she had walked in (though, if anyone had been planning not to, they certainly didn’t dare steal in front of Officer Undyne).

Undyne sighed, her bangs fluttering a bit (which reminded her she wanted a haircut. She was thinking about something like an undercut, but she wasn’t sure she could pull it off). Trust this town to always follow the rules.

No matter, Undyne needed to continue to search the small grocery-style store while she had the chance. Where’s the most logical place to keep something hidden from the law?

She locked eyes with the freezers, and grinned. Bingo. Could they make this any easier?

Undyne chuckled to herself as she swung the freezer door open. Usually, these places opened up to the back for easier restocking. And by the looks of both the lazy employee and the lazy dog, Undyne was sure convenience was an all-time-high necessity.

‘ _Give me a little bit of a challenge_ ,’ she thought to herself as she began to remove the frozen TV dinners and packets of frozen chicken from the large freezer. It chilled her skin, and she brushed away the frosty ice that stung and numbed her fingertips when it became too much. Eventually, it became too deep to just reach in  and grab and-

Undyne glanced down at the huge pile stacking up around her. What- did this place just have ENDLESS supplies of frozen dinners?!

With a committed huff, she tried to reach in again. Too deep.

This would call for drastic measures.

Her boot against the first shelf for leverage, she began to climb into the freezer, ignoring the stares of a few straggling customers around her. The ice burned around her as she forced her body into one of the shelves, and she cringed, but bared it as she pulled out another, and another, and another- the more she pulled frozen dinner boxes and bags out, the further she could slip in, so surely that must mean an end was in sight?

Her SOUL caught a few times when she was momentarily stuck, but the brief panic faded when she was able to pull herself out again and triumphantly toss a bag of frozen fries out of the way.

Shivering, she braced herself and slid into the shelf again. By now, the bite of the ice reached all the way down to her thighs, and whenever she resurfaced again, her entire torso was soaked. She frowned.

“Just how deep _is_ this damn thing…?!” She grumbled to herself, feeling all the nerve endings in her skin outwardly rejecting the intensity of the ice, her face going numb to the way her hair was wet and sticking to her face and how each breath out puffed out like a giant cloud around her, the gills beneath her clothes burning at how the cold was dehydrating her in a completely new way.

She began to pull back again, ready to try another way in, but as she retracted, she noticed how she crawled in with one leg up and her back hunched over, instead of flat on her stomach as she had been doing, and she was met with force when she tried to pull back.

Panic pierced through her, her eyes widening as she tried again, and again. The air stung around her body, and her SOUL pounded wildly. When she moved the little she could, she realized one of the buckles on her boots had gotten stuck to something.

She tried to reach down to undo it, but it only resulted in her face scraping against the cold surface of the freezer’s icy shelf and her shoulders not being able to twist in such a cramped area.

Her arms slowly stretching back to her chest so she could lift her face, she closed her eyes to pray to whatever higher being was out there, to the church across town, that nobody was watching her in this barren store. Counting to 10, she opened her eyes and squinted. She couldn’t even see an end to this shelf, and anger boiled in her.

' _Don't panic_ ,' She told herself. ' _Don't panic don't panic don't-_ '

Trying to kick her legs a few times to unhook to whatever it stuck onto, she growled and banged her fists against the cold shelf material.

Time passed- but she wasn’t sure it if was a few seconds or several minutes of her struggling. Time warped. It jumbled together and blurred into something in-cohesively cohesive and it almost felt like being cooked alive, but slowly, and an entirely different type of burn.

Her nerves must’ve been shocked, because it took her a bit to realize someone was gently patting at her legs and trying to get her to calm down.

“W-wait…!” The voice called out, and Undyne felt pins and needles dancing against the exposed skin of her neck, face, and fingers, and like a barbed knife had licked against the gills concealed by her uniform. “I can see where it's caught…!”

If Undyne wasn’t losing feeling in her face, she probably would’ve felt heat rush to it. Instead, she focused on keeping her breathing steady, and her vision focused.

It felt _much_ too long by the time she felt the pull on her leg loosen, and she immediately stretched it out and felt an ache pierce through her thighs, and cringed as she slid out of the shelf, picking up the rest of the gathered frost from the frozen packets of food with her.

It took a moment to center herself to the warmth of the store, but she stumbled back and fell into the growing pile of TV dinners and bags of frozen meats and coughed, her body trembling wildly. Heat rushed over her quickly, and even that was slightly painful, and she grit her teeth as the ringing in her ears eventually faded of into the voice that had helped her.

Blinking deliriously, her eyes focused on the little yellow monster dressed in business casual and frantically asking if she was okay.

The last somewhat incoherent thought she had was along the lines of ‘ _guardian angel_ ’, before:

“O-oh my god…! A-are you okay?!”

Oh.

Right.

The embarrassment flooded into her now. A quick look around the aisle showed that they seemed to be the only ones around- the skeleton at the register still slept peacefully- and the dog had scampered over and licked at Undyne’s hands.

She coughed. How was she going to explain that she thought some shady crime was going on in a place like this, and she was going to break into the backroom via the freezer that was surprisingly large?

(Not that she was letting her theory go, or anything. She just wasn’t sure how to explain it.)

“Um,” She said numbly, looking around at the boxes surrounding her. She picked one up, her fingertips burning. “Just got a craving for frozen dinners….?”

The unfamiliar monster blinked before her, her eyes flickering between Undyne and the cold box.

“B….but what about all the others….?” She quietly gestured to the huge pile Undyne was laying in.

“I- uh, I wanted a fresh one!” Undyne tried not to cringe at her paradox, and the monster in front of her looked somewhat amused, if not concerned. “They restock from the back- so I like to grab the ones from the back, you know?”

“O-oh! Right…!” The other monster nodded a little, and they grew awkwardly silent.

…

“C…” The smaller monster started, ringing her fingers together nervously as Undyne felt the heat of the store warm her up. “Could you…. G-get me one…?”

Undyne blinked. “A …..fresh one?”

She nodded, flashing her an embarrassed smile. And for some reason, Undyne felt like she would do anything for her in that moment.

By sheer lesbian power alone, Undyne found it in herself to get back up, crawl into the shelf, and grab the frosty box from the back. She felt the smaller monster help guide her back out gently, and her SOUL jumped.

“Here ya go,” Undyne said with a grin, ignoring how much her body hurt. The lizard smiled back, and nervously(?) took it from her, the dog excitedly barking and patting at their legs for attention.

Which was too bad really, because Undyne was much too occupied with this nerdy angel who saved her from the fiery depths of beginning frostbite with a cute smile and huge glasses and a cute tie and-

“Is that the one you wanted?” Undyne asked, willing to go back into the freezer to retrieve another if it wasn’t.

“Y-yeah…!” She insisted, waving her off. Though, Undyne noted, she hadn’t looked down to check, choosing instead to keep their somewhat-bashful eye contact. “Thanks, Officer Undyne.” She said after a moment with a soft smile, her grip on the box squeezing its cardboard.

“Oh, no problem- uh….” Undyne faltered. Did she say her name? She couldn’t remember. The last few minutes had been a blur, but she was sure she had never met this monster before.

“Oh! Uh, I-I’m Alphys…!” The monster ( _Alphys_ ) fumbled with the box as she freed a hand so Undyne could shake it.

“Alphys.” Undyne repeated, taking the other’s hand. She felt heat flow through Alphys into her through their fingertips, like her very presence was melting away the cold that was clinging to her skin. Like her very presence was calming.

Over the quiet radio that coated the ambiance of the store, a soft jingle about car insurance played.

 

It was the most romantic encounter Undyne had ever experienced.

 

\---

 

She, obviously, ran over to who she always did when she was faced with crisis.

“Asgore!” She yelled over the chiming of a bell that announced her arrival into the happy flower shop. “Asgore!” She called out again, and she felt bad, but she also felt too frantic to care.

“Officer Undyne?” Asgore called out, hurrying down the stairs with wide eyes. “What’s wrong?! What happened to Kris?!”

_'Kris? '_ Undyne blinked. “Wha- No, Kris is fine!” She waved him off.

“Toriel?!”

“Nobody’s hurt!” Undyne hurried to correct, seeing how scared he looked.

Clutching a fuzzy paw to his chest, he let out a large sigh of relief.

“What are you trying to do?” Asgore, now visibly calmer, spoke as he walked over. “Scare me to death?”

“I didn’t even say anything about Kris.” She gave him an odd look.

“Well, usually when you have a kid, and the local police officer comes charging in, you fear the worse.” He gave her a grim smile.

“Oh.” She said, falling serious. She felt guilt seep into her. “Sorry- I didn’t even think about that-”

“Its fine,” He cut off the apology with a smile. “But is everything alright?”

“No!” Undyne shouted again, but when she saw Asgore get concerned again, she retracted. “I mean- yes, but no!”

Asgore blinked. “Um, so which is it…?”

Frustrated, Undyne slumped down in a nearby chair. “Personal problem- everyone is safe.” She tried not to think about her theory of an underground drug cartel happening in _‘SANS._

Asgore pulled up a chair next to her, ready to listen.

“...” Undyne wasn’t sure where to begin, so instead she opens the bag of tiny powdered donuts she had grabbed before running out of the store (but not before tossing money towards the sleepy cashier, who was now awake and grinning at her like he saw the whole thing go down, _which he probably did_ ) and holds it out to Asgore. “I’m on lunch break.”

“Since when do you take lunch breaks?” He says with amusement, taking a handful. Undyne watched him pretend he wasn’t starving as he ate them, and she suddenly felt terrible for not grabbing one of the frozen dinners for him.

(Not that he would outwardly take food given to him, so Undyne had to be sneaky, like this.)

She slapped her hand on the nearby coffee table for emphasis to her next sentence. “Since ‘ _SANS_ opened today for lunch.”

Asgore looked at her with surprise, midchew. “I thought that place was abandoned.”

“Me too!” Undyne nods with enthusiasm. “But when I saw it open today, it made me start to think: Why so suddenly? Why are the hours terrible? _How_ do they have employees?”

Asgore hummed in agreement as he continued to eat. He offered the bag to Undyne, but she shook her head.

“-So then I thought: Isn’t that suspicious? That sounds exactly like-” She paused. “Wait-Ugh, I’m going off topic! That’s not what I’m here to talk about!” Taking a moment to clear her thoughts, she tried to approach this in a way that wouldn’t be _too_ weird:

“Do you know anyone named Alphys?”

Asgore’s expression lit up in recognition, which made Undyne sit up a bit in excitement as he nodded.

“Yes- She teaches down by the school!” He supplied. “I believe she’s teaching Kris’s class this year.”

Undyne blinked. “Wait- really?”

Asgore nodded. “Yes, sometimes she comes here, too.”

It fell on deaf ears. “A teacher? Since _when_?”

“Um, since a while…?”

“How much of a while?” Undyne leaned forward. “How come I’ve never seen her before today?”

Asgore laughed a little. “You’ve never met her? This town has all of two teachers, Officer Undyne.”

“I don’t have any kids!” She defended, crossing her arms.

“Still, it's pretty hard to miss anyone in a town like this.” He reached again for more powdery, sugary goodness of the mini donuts. “But yes, she teaches upper level. Surely you’ve at least seen her during the first days of classes, or any town events?” He frowned, before correcting himself. “Actually, probably not. She's more of a homebody-”

“Wait-” Undyne held her hands up. “You _know her_ -know her?”

Asgore looked confused, but elaborated: “I mean, she _is_ Kris’s teacher. Plus, she comes in here occasionally-”

“Oh my _GOD_!” Undyne suddenly shouts, springing up and grabbing Asgore by his shoulders (proceeding to almost make him choke on his donut). “I forgot to thank her!!”

“Wha-”

Undyne shakes him a little. “The freezer!! She helped me out of it and I didn’t even _THANK_ HER!”

Asgore grabs her arms, prying her strong grip off of him. “ _What_ are you talking about?!”

“Ugh, I’m so _stupid!_ ” Undyne says instead, slapping her palm to her forehead and slumping back into the metal chair.

Watching her for a moment, Asgore gets up.

“Well, while you’re not telling me the full story- here’s what I can understand,”

Undyne peaked out from between her fingers as he headed to the counter.

“Today, you ran into Ms Alphys for the first time at the market, and she helped you out of a freezer?”

Undyne sighed. “I don’t wanna talk about it.”

“Right,” Asgore laughs a bit again before continuing. “And you forgot to say thank you, which makes you feel terrible because now you’re interested in her and you think you might’ve lost your chance.”

“Yes!” Undyne says, and then: “No! No- _WHAT?_ I _just_ met her! What do you take me for?”

From the counter, Asgore gives her a look, before returning to a list in a notebook.

Undyne lasted all of four seconds before she finally gave in.

“ _FINE_ . Okay, _maybe_ I was a little embarrassed because I did something stupid and I wasn’t expecting her to be that cute and _maybe_ I want to know more about her and-”

Asgore silences her as he motions for her towards the mini greenhouse that connected to the shop, and she sighs as she heads over.

“Hold this up for me, please.” Asgore says as he hands her the notebook, and glances over it before returning towards the plants. “Now, continue.”

Undyne fell quiet. “...That’s… kind of it.”

“That’s it?”

“What else do you want from me!”

“Some sort of love profession.” He teases, before choosing a few flowers and gesturing for her to step back into the shop with him.

“I _just_ met her!” She defended. After a beat of silence, she continued: “She knew who _I_ was.”

“I think everyone in town does.” Asgore grinned as he worked, searching for wrapping and ribbon.

“No, I mean,” Undyne frowned. “She knew who I was, and I had to ask her for her name.”

“And you feel bad?”

She nodded. “I should’ve remembered her. The town is only so big.”

“You’re a busy person.”

“Not that busy.”

“Busy enough.” He insisted, if only to make her feel better. “But here: this will probably help.”

Undyne blinked at the bouquet he was handing her.

“....You’ve _got_ to be kidding me.”

“What?”

“Asgore,” Undyne sighed. “What part of I _just_ met her don’t you get?! If I gave her these, she’ll get so freaked out and never speak to me again!!”

“Nonsense,” Asgore waved her off, shoving the bouquet closer to her as she backed away. “She likes these! You like her!”

“I don’t even know her…!”

“I think she would be a good match for you, anyway,” He insisted. “But trust me, she won’t think twice- she’ll take it as a gesture of friendship. And she likes these. If anything you can tell her I told you to give them to her.”

Undyne wasn’t sure that made her feel any better. Though she kind of felt bad denying his help, crazy forward as it was.

“....What’s in this?”

Asgore smiled. “Pink carnation, geranium, jasmine, and yarrow.” He named as he glanced down at the bouquet, motioning to which flower was which.

“Uh-huh.” Undyne deadpanned with narrowed eyes. “And what do these mean?”

“Why does it matter?” He smiled. “They’re just lovely.”

“She’s a teacher. That means she’s _real_ smart, and she probably knows flower-types or something.”

Asgore paused. “Geranium means friendship.”

“And the others?”

He smiled bashfully.

“ _Asgore_ ,” Undyne sighed. “I don’t want her to think I’m weird!”

_‘Any weirder than she already thinks I am.’_

“She won’t. She’ll be flattered. What’s with all this subtly suddenly, Officer Undyne? I figured you would spring at the chance to be forward.”

Undyne frowned down at the flowers.

“Or have you finally met your match?” He grinned.

She looked up at this. “No way! I just… don’t want to mess it up! It wasn’t the smoothest first meeting…”

Asgore frowns, sighing loud enough for Undyne to feel guilty about it. “Oh, alright.” He says, sadly.

It last all of about two seconds, before Undyne gives in: “ _Fine_ .” She grumbled, taking the bouquet and ignoring the way his expression immediately lit up. “I’ll _think_ about it!”

\---

So, she thought about it.

She thought about it most of the rest of her shift, and afterwards, as she stores the flowers where they can have water overnight, and throughout most of the night.

She wakes up three times on account of three separate nightmares: one where Alphys gets freaked out and her whole class laughs at her, one where she forgets to bring the bouquet to her in the morning, and one where Alphys takes them, then pushes her into a large freezer and locks the door behind her.

After that, she decided not to think about it anymore in her sleep, so instead she gets up early and thinks about it in the shower, while brushing her teeth, while ignoring the fridge’s attitude at still being empty and while thinking about what to find for breakfast before her shift starts.

On her short trip to the city for some fast food breakfast (she has the time, today, since she cut an extra hour and a half out of her sleep schedule), she thinks about it, glancing down at the happy bouquet in the passenger seat beside her.

Breakfast energizes her, filling her with some odd confidence she had been lacking when she went to bed the night prior. When she glances down at the flowers, occasionally, it fills her with a bubbly feeling and _maybe Asgore was right, maybe this’ll work out and Alphys would be interested in a date or something, something out in the city and not in this tiny town, and maybe they could come back and stargaze and maybe Undyne would get the confidence to place her hand over Alphys’s and Alphys would look over at her and_ -

And there she was. Undyne could see Alphys walking up the schoolyard road from where she was parked in her car, waiting for anyone to come speeding by so she could stop them.

_There she is_ , Undyne gripped the steering wheel, and tried to be subtle as she tried to calm her breathing. Was she being creepy? She hadn’t staked out for her or anything, she usually parked here to catch morning speeders (which made her feel even more ridiculous for never meeting Alphys)- but she couldn’t shake the feeling.

The early morning confidence was dropping. Would Alphys even appreciate this? What if she wasn’t a morning monster? What if Asgore accidentally put in something she was allergic to? What if Alphys hadn’t even _felt_ the spark Undyne had the day prior?

_Why_ was she so drawn to her?

But Alphys was already heading inside, Undyne was losing time debating. She was panicking, she had _never_ felt like this around a girl before.

Watching her head inside, she took a deep breath, and made a decision.

\---

 

“Miss Alphys?” Noelle calls into the class as she enters- Alphys turning to greet her as she tried to find her lesson planner.

“Good morning, Noelle,” She replies with a smile. Noelle was usually the first to class, and often because she had questions on the homework that she wanted clarifying. When she glances up, however, Noelle is giving her a confused look and holding a bouquet.

“Um, I just found these laying outside the door? Are they for you?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pink carnation- I’ll never forget you  
> Jasmine- Sweet love  
> Geranium- True friendship  
> Yarrow - Everlasting love
> 
> Hubris will be my Downfall this morning i had to end up crawling into a grocery store freezer to search through those GIANT bags of frozen french fries for my little brother bc every single one was ripped open and the entire time i was just repeating 'don't get stuck don't get stuck' and my body was hurting from the cold for like 10 minutes...........karma told me to Watch My Back

**Author's Note:**

> heyehehey if u like my alphyne style feel free to read (harass me to update, please i need it) my other alphyne work, that one is cooler and has mettaton ;3c


End file.
